Be Successful!
Grow Your Business.
Join IMDA
IMDA can help --
Discover
cost-saving business ideas.
Five years ago, IMDA member Grandview Medical Resources had an enviable
problem -- growth. The company, which was founded by Kevin Trout in 1996,
had 18 employees, with more growth on the horizon. That meant that Trout was
facing scads of human-resource issues, which threatened to take his eye off
his true area of expertise – specialty sales and marketing. While at an IMDA
annual conference, he learned of a company, Administaff, which provides
outsourced human resource services. Several IMDA colleagues were using the
company, and he met an Administaff representative at the conference. "The
lightbulb went off," he says. "The HR side of the business was something I
was struggling with. Administaff came in and answered a lot of questions,
not just payroll, but the entire HR function." Today Grandview has 45
employees at three locations, and Trout relies on Administaff to help with
recruiting, pre-hire screening, health insurance benefits, workers comp and
legal assistance.
IMDA is dedicated to advancing the business interests of independent
medical sales and marketing companies, and the manufacturers whose products
they carry. Explore the opportunities. Together we are stronger.
If you're a specialty distributor or rep, or a manufacturer in need of
outsourced sales and marketing, visit the IMDA Website today at
www.imda.org. Or call us at (866) IMDA-YES
(866-463-2937). And make plans now to attend the IMDA Annual Conference in
June 2007 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The lightbulb just might go off for you
too.
Pick up new lines.
Five years ago, Med Alliance Group faced a crucial juncture in its
three-year history. The suburban Chicago-based specialty distributor had
just lost a major line and was searching for another. Founder and President
Jim Herrmann found it at the IMDA Annual Conference. That's where he met
Stan Tangalakis, president and CEO of Mercury Medical, a specialty
distributor and manufacturer of anesthesia and respiratory supplies and
equipment. Mercury was in need of independent specialty distributors around
the country, and Tangalakis believed Med Alliance could fill the bill in the
Midwest. Tangalakis got it right: This year, Med Alliance Group will sell
more than a million dollars of Mercury Medical's products. "That filled the
void [from the lost line] and allowed us to keep moving straight forward,"
says Herrmann.
A year or two later, Herrmann made another key contact through IMDA. At
the IMDA Manufacturers Forum, he met Jim Thomsen, co-founder and executive
vice president of Vidacare.
The San Antonio, Texas-based company was seeking specialty sales and
marketing organizations to introduce its innovative EZ-IO technology, which
rapidly delivers drugs and fluids to patients in whom vascular access is
challenging or even impossible. In 2006, Med Alliance Group sold $400,000
worth of Vidacare's products.
Herrmann has more stories to tell about the impact of his IMDA membership
on his business. For example, there's the manufacturer of a unique
arterial-closure system that tracked down Med Alliance Group through the
IMDA directory. It is testing the viability of specialty sales and marketing
organizations in carrying its technology to the acute-care market.
IMDA is working for Jim Herrmann, and it can work for you. Visit the IMDA
Website at www.imda.org and reacquaint
yourself with the resources IMDA can offer you. Or call headquarters at
(866) IMDA-YES (866-463-2937). And by all means, plan on attending the
Annual Conference, June 3-5, 2007, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It's the only
place where specialty sales and marketing companies can network with each
other and manufacturers of innovative medical technologies.
IMDA is dedicated to helping you enhance your company's performance and
profits. We are your trade association.
Find your $10,000 idea.
Are you a medical specialty distributor or rep who's looking to grow your
business? Then look into IMDA, the nation's only association for medical
specialty sales and marketing organizations, like yours. IMDA members like
to talk about the "$10,000 idea" they picked up at the most recent Annual
Conference, that is, an idea that, if implemented, could either help them
save $10,000 or earn that much. Here's what some members had to say
following the most recent Annual Conference & Manufacturers Forum in
Charleston, S.C.:
"As always, interacting and getting to know people from all over the U.S.
and Canada is, in itself, the most rewarding part of our organization."
"[IMDA member] Dave Campbell's presentation on non-traditional [virtual, or
electronic] prospecting was the highlight for me. We were exploring similar
ideas and Dave pointed out, from his experience, what works and what
doesn't. His insights will save us time and money, no doubt."
"Sometimes you don't realize if you picked up a $10,000 idea at the annual
meeting until years later. At the present time, we sell over $3,000,000 in
product from lines that I came in contact with at IMDA annual meetings."
Learn more about IMDA by visiting our Website at
www.imda.org, or by calling (866) IMDA-YES
(866-463-2937). Make IMDA your trade association.
Help in a storm
Two years after Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Duke
Johns still recalls how much being an IMDA member meant -- and continues to
mean -- to him. "I had lots of calls from my fellow IMDA members," says
Johns, who owns Medical Specialties in New Orleans. "People were willing to
store products for me, ship for me, bill for me if necessary. Depending on
how long it took me to get up and running, they were willing to share
inventories and be my eyes and ears out there."
IMDA is the nation's only association for medical specialty sales and
marketing organizations, like yours. To Johns, the Katrina experience
crystallizes what belonging to IMDA means to him. "Not belonging to
IMDA is like driving a motorcycle on a pitch black night with no
headlights," he says. "Before I got involved, I was doing OK, but I didn't
know why, and I didn't know if I could do better or avoid mistakes other
people have made." By networking with colleagues from all over the country
and Canada, however, and particularly by attending the annual IMDA
Management Conference, Johns knowledge, wisdom, experience and expertise
that he otherwise would miss out on. That's important not just during
cataclysmic events like Katrina, but during the everyday challenges of
running a medical specialty business.